Rafer Guzman

Jennifer Westfeldt's "Friends with Kids" asks an important question: do I really have to have kids? When two single friends realize that all of their friends are parents, they ditch bachelor life to have a baby of their own. "Friends with Kids" has an all-star comedic cast, but it's also rife with some language you might not want your own kids to hear. As always, Movie Date is brought to you by Rafer Guzman, film critic for Newsday, and Kristen Meinzer, culture producer for the Takeaway.

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It’s Friday, when we talk about movies here on The Takeaway. There are three big releases this week: “John Carter,” “Friends with Kids,” and “Silent House.”

In addition to hosting the Movie Date podcast, Rafer Guzman is film critic for Newsday and Kristen Meinzer is a producer for The Takeaway.

Remember those crazy parties in high school? Well, our Movie Date podcasters do. This week the Todd Phillips movie "Project X" rages into the movie theaters.  The director of "Hangover" and "Old School" takes on teenage rebellion when three buddies decide to throw the party of their lives. As always we hear from Rafer Guzman, film critic for Newsday, and Kristen Meinzer, culture producer for the Takeaway.

Even though "The Lorax" has yet to open to the public, it's a movie that has ruffled a lot of feathers. Some claim it’s leftist eco-propaganda and others claiming that, with its 70-plus product tie-ins, it’s capitalistic garbage.

Love them, hate them — or only tune in to catch the absurd celebrity wardrobe choices — the hype is inescapable. The Oscars are coming up on Sunday. The Takeaway's Movie Date team weigh in on which nominees for Best Picture, Best Actress/Actor, and Best Supporting Actor/Actress will take home statuettes? Or, more importantly, who will be snubbed.

Excitement about the red carpet heats up as the 84th Annual Academy Awards will take place on Sunday. Will "The Artist" walk away with best film? And will the Academy take "Bridesmaids" seriously and make Melissa McCarthy the victorious underdog? Find out who our Movie Date podcasters think will go home with a little statuette. As always we hear from Rafer Guzman, film critic for Newsday, and Kristen Meinzer, culture producer for the Takeaway.

This week our Movie Date podcasters talk about the most unlikely movie story of the year: Jeremy Lin and his rapid rise to stardom in the NBA. As a script, the Jeremy Lin story is perfect. Beyond breaking down the aspects of the Lin story, our team looks at the most lin-spired movies. What movies remind you of the Jeremy Lin story? As always we hear from Rafer Guzman, film critic for Newsday, and Kristen Meinzer, culture producer for the Takeaway.

"Safe House" is the new Denzel Washington flick which treads some familiar territory. There are explosions, there are also buddy cop dynamics, sexy girlfriends, and lots and lots of action.  As always we hear from Rafer Guzman, film critic for Newsday, and Kristen Meinzer, culture producer for the Takeaway. They'll tell you if this movie is a good date, and if the action-packed sequences are too much, too often, or just right.

This week’s big releases offer up some variations on Hollywood's most beloved genres: "Safe House," a CIA mole-thriller with Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds; "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island," a kid-friendly sci-fi adventure starring The Rock and Michael Cain; and the tear-jerking amnesia romance "The Vow" starring Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum.

Rafer Guzman, Newsday critic and Takeaway contributor, and Jada Yuan, contributing editor for New York Magazine, NYMag.com, and Vulture.com, talk about independent films in the theaters, coming soon, and at Sundance.

What if all we had was time? What if our youth was everlasting, but the time we has was limited? In this futuristic sci-fi thriller everyone stops aging at the tender age of 25. The only problem is that the time you have left is a commodity. People trade minutes and hours instead of dollars, leaving a cup of coffee to cost you about 90 seconds, give or take. This is the world that Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried find themselves in as their characters navigate this post-apocalyptic experience. As always we hear from Rafer Guzman, film critic for Newsday, and Kristen Meinzer, culture producer for the Takeaway.

Like "Snakes on a Plane" before it "Man on a Ledge" tells you exactly what to expect out of this thriller. There's a man, of course, and he is on a ledge. But what he's doing there, how he will get off, and what happens in between? We won't spoil the plot for you but our Movie Date podcasters will put this movie in context of other "literal-title movies" and let you know if it is a good date or not. As always we hear from Rafer Guzman, film critic for Newsday, and Kristen Meinzer, culture producer for the Takeaway.

Late January means as many action releases as June and July. Liam Neeson returns to the big screen this weekend with the icy survival flick "The Grey." This Friday also sees "Man on a Ledge," starring Sam Worthington as a police psychologist negotiating with a pack of diamond thieves, whilst on a ledge of course. Find out which flicks are worth seeing, and which ones should wait until DVD release.

In Steven Soderbergh's latest movie, the "Ocean's Eleven" director recruits mixed martial arts fighter Gina Carano to play the heroine in the action-packed "Haywire." Both the director and actor joined The Takeaway to talk about their unlikely pairing for Carano's first movie. Now we hear about the movie from Movie Date podcasters Rafer Guzman, film critic for Newsday, and Kristen Meinzer, culture producer for the Takeaway.

Last night was the 69th annual Golden Globe Awards and once again Ricky Gervais played host. Gervais did what he does, a little more gently this time around. The stars were out, well Winner Woody Allen didn't show, but it was a party as usual. Here to weigh in are our Movie Date team, Rafer Guzman, who's also movie critic for Newsday and his co-host Kristen Meinzer, who's also culture producer for the Takeaway.

The Golden Globe awards are Sunday. Who will come out as Hollywood's big winner? Who will look stunning on the red carpet? And who will flame out? Find out what Takeaway Movie Date podcasters Rafer Guzman and Kristen Meinzer think about the winners and losers. Have any favorites, or movies that you think we're overrated? Let us know here or call us at 1-877-8-MY-TAKE.

After the December onslaught of Oscar-hopefuls and arthouse faire, two star-powered crowd-pleasers open this week: "Contraband" and "Joyful Noise." The latter sees the big-screen return of Dolly Parton after a decade, and the former promises big-budget CGI thrills from Mark Wahlberg. But whether or not the year's first popcorn flicks deliver on their excitement and laughter remains to be seen.

Chic Flicks and Dude Flicks released on the same day? It happens this week as Mark Wahlberg packs heat and battles bad guys in the new thriller "Contraband." Also being released is "Joyful Noise," a musical starring the dynamic duo of Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah. Which movie will please both genders, and more importantly, which makes a good movie date? Takeaway Movie Date podcasters Rafer Guzman and Kristen Meinzer tell us about what movies you might want to take your spouse to, and which one you should see alone.

In 2011 two franchises based on novels for teens — "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two" and "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part One" — overtook stoner comedies, CGI kiddie movies, and comic book adaptations at the box office. In 2012, the bigscreen adaptation of "The Hunger Games" will wage a similar battle against "The Dark Knight Rises." But this year won't be all explosions: a new take on "The Great Gatsby" starring Leonardo DiCaprio and a biography of Lincoln starring Daniel-Day Lewis will also hit theaters.

The last week of the year brings with it Hollywood's last chance to release movies eligible for 2012's Academy Awards. "The Iron Lady" (trailer after the jump), the Margaret Thatcher biopic starring Meryl Streep is among them. The movie is getting mixed reviews, but Streep's performance is said to make her a shoo-in for this year's Oscars. The Takeaway's Movie Date podcast team gives their assessment of "The Iron Lady," and look back at their picks for the best and worst movies of 2011.